Foreign exchange market. American session: the U.S. dollar traded mixed against the most major currencies after the mixed U.S. economic data | 12.03.2015

The U.S. dollar traded mixed against the most major currencies after the mixed U.S. economic data. The U.S. business inventories were flat in January, beating expectations for a 0.2% increase, after a flat reading in December. December's figure was revised up from a 0.1% rise.

The U.S. retail sales dropped 0.6% in February, missing expectations for a 0.5% increase, after a 0.8% decline in January.

Retail sales excluding automobiles fell 0.1% in February, missing forecasts for a 0.6% rise, after a 1.1% drop in January. January's figure was revised down from a 0.9% decline.

The decline was driven by bad weather.

The number of initial jobless claims in the week ending March 07 in the U.S. fell by 36,000 to 289,000 from 325,000 in the previous week. The previous week's figure was revised down from 320,000. Analysts had expected the number of initial jobless claims to decrease to 317,000.

The U.S. import price index increased by 0.4 percent in February, beating expectations for a 0.2% rise, after a 3.1% drop in January. January's figure was revised down from a 2.8% decrease.

The U.S. business inventories will be released at 14:00 GMT0, and are expected to rise 0.2% in January, after a 0.1% gain in December.

The euro traded mixed against the U.S. dollar. Concerns over Greece's further bailout policy and quantitative easing by the European Central Bank (ECB) still weighed on the euro. The ECB had started to purchase government bonds on Monday.

Industrial production in the Eurozone declined 0.1% in January, missing expectations for a 0.3% increase, after a 0.3% rise in December. December's figure was revised up from a flat reading.

On a yearly basis, Eurozone's industrial production rose 1.2% in January, after a 0.6% increase in December. December's figure was revised up from a 0.2 decrease.

The British pound fell against the U.S. dollar after comments by the Bank of England (BoE) Governor Mark Carney. He said in a speech in Sheffield that a stronger pound and low global inflation could weigh on inflation in the U.K. for some time. Carney added that a persistent period of low global inflation is possible, driven by lower oil prices and a slowdown in global demand.

Carney pointed out that future interest rate hike might depend on events overseas. "The pace and degree of these increases will be affected by a variety of factors, including the evolution of foreign prices and our exchange rate, as well as domestic cost pressures", the BoE governor said.

The U.K. trade deficit in goods narrowed to £8.4 billion in January from £9.9 billion in December, beating expectations for a deficit of £9.7 billion. That was the lowest level since March 2014.

December's figure was revised up from a deficit of £10.2 billion.

The decline was driven by higher service exports and lower oil imports.

Exports fell by £1 billion, while imports declined by £2.5 billion. The decline in imports was the largest monthly decline since July 2006.

The Canadian dollar traded lower against the U.S. dollar. New housing price index in Canada fell 0.1% in January, missing expectations for a 0.2% gain, after a 0.1% increase in December.

The New Zealand dollar traded mixed against the U.S. dollar. In the overnight trading session, the kiwi rose against the greenback after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's (RBNZ) interest decision. The RBNZ kept interest rate unchanged at 3.50%.

The RBNZ Governor Graeme Wheeler said that New Zealand's situation "is quite different from some of those countries that have changed monetary policy or cut interest rates" as New Zealand's economy is growing at 3.25%, perhaps 3.5%. He added that the country's economy is expected "to grow at those sorts of rates over the next two years".

That could mean that the RBNZ's monetary policy will remain unchanged until 2017.

New Zealand's food price index fell 0.7% in February, after a 1.3% increase in January.

The Australian dollar traded higher against the U.S. dollar. In the overnight trading session, the Aussie traded higher against the greenback after the better-than-expected labour market data from Australia. Australia's unemployment rate fell to 6.3% in February from 6.4% in January. Analysts had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged at 6.4%.

The number of employed people in Australia rose by 15,600 in February, exceeding expectations for an increase by 15,300, after a drop by 14,600 in January. January's figure was revised down from a decline by 12,200.

These figures might be not enough to ease pressure on the Reserve Bank of Australia to lower its interest rate again. The central bank said that rising unemployment was one of the main reasons for the interest rate cut in February.

The Melbourne Institute's consumer inflation expectations for Australia decreased to 3.2% in March from 4.0% in February.

The Japanese yen traded lower against the U.S. dollar. In the overnight trading session, the yen traded higher against the greenback after the mixed economic data from Japan. Japan's consumer confidence index increased to 40.7 in February from 39.1 in January, exceeding expectations for a rise to 39.9.

The business survey index (BSI) of manufacturers' sentiment declined to 2.4 in first quarter from 8.1 in the fourth quarter, missing expectations for a decrease to 5.9.

Japan's tertiary industry index climbed 1.4% in January, beating expectations for a 0.6% rise, after a flat reading in December. December's figure was revised up from a 0.3% drop.

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